Haunted
by Mr. Quinnt
Summary: It's been two weeks since Homecoming, and Jake is seeing Rose everywhere. In crowded stores, abandoned houses, even the roof of the Pantheon building, she lets him see her and then disappears. It's driving him mad until finally, using a little magic and some good old fashion trickery he's able to sneak up on her... Note: Jake didn't bump into her after the wish and thinks her dead
1. Chapter 1

**"There ain't no rest for the wicked, till we close our eyes for good..." - an excerpt from a song by **_**Cage the Elephant.**_

It felt good. The cool air in his face, his wings beating in a steady rhythm. It would be so easy to just focus on that and forget everything else, but he also needed to keep an eye out for the things that go bump in the night. He rather liked night. He didn't associate it with sadness and fear, but rather peace and serenity. It helped him get his mind off ... things. Speaking of which, it was time for him to visit again. Every day since Homecoming he'd taken a detour to see the building. To try and memorize every detail, every moment of that night, and maybe, just maybe against all odds he'd see her there and she'd tell him that it was ok. Maybe, if e wished for it hard enough, she would be there, but no. Of course not. Every night he visited, and every night it was empty. Well, almost. Some harpies had the misfortune to try and set up shop there after the gargoyles were destroyed. When Jake visited that night, he was beyond furious. I won't go into details, but let's just say that no magical creature has set foot on that building since. He felt his heart quicken as he rounded the nearest another skyscraper. He was almost there. Just a few more feet and he could see roof and the ...

He froze.

Someone was standing on the roof of the Pantheon building. Someone he'd never expected to see again. He was still too far to see clearly, but he was sure. Her posture, the way she leaned back a little when standing. There was no mistaking it. Standing there, among the destroyed gargoyles was Rose. No, no that was impossible. She couldn't be standing there, she was dead. He'd seen her die. Seen her disappear just before his wish reached her, but here she was. He could almost imagine a little half smirk half smile on her face as she stood there, waiting for him to come. Maybe, she might even berate him for not trusting her when she said that it'd be ok.

Jake rubbed his eyes. When he opened them again, Rose was gone. Just an empty roof with a line of broken gargoyles, like a bad memory he didn't dare forget.

"Snap out of it Jake," he muttered to himself, "It's been almost two weeks now. She's gone and you have to accept that. That was just your mind playing tricks on you. Making you see what you wanted to." Yes, that made sense. He'd heard of something similar happening to people when they couldn't stop obsessing over something. It was nothing. He was just tired and the roof and the night... "Yes a cruel mind trick, that's all."

Despite all that, he did end patrol for the night. Real or not, he couldn't bear another moment out there. He turned around and was home in a few minutes. Grandpa's shop was as he'd left it, though why it should be any different he had no idea. Just, if he really did see Rose... No, he couldn't even think that or he'd wind up like some of those pathetic widowers at the psych ward. He opened the door and walked in. Gramps was already asleep, but Fu was still in front of the laptop.

"Hey kid," he greeted Jake without lifting his face from the monitor. "How was patrol?" Dragon business was low since the Huntsclan disappeared, so it wasn't expecting much of an answer, but he still asked just in case. Even though everyone was trying to keep a low profile till the heat died down, there were always a few goblins who tried to jump the gun.

"H-hey Fu." He replied, still shaken. "It was ... peachy."

Fu paused, then leaned to the left, taking his eyes off the monitor.

"Peachy? Did you just use the word..." Disbelief turned to worry as he saw Jake's face. "You a'right kid?"

"What?" It took a second for Jake to register what Fu had just said. It seemed like it was coming from so far away. The whole room seemed so far away. "Oh, yeah, yeah I am fine. What's wrong with peaches?" He quickly added, trying to change the subject. The last thing he needed was Fu worrying about him over nothing. "They're round and fuzzy and um... fuzzy." He finished weakly. Fu just looked at him before going back to the French poodle he was trying to woo. If Jake was in any trouble, he'd tell them. Jake did hear him mumble something about a manservant acting weird while typing, but decided not to pursue the subject. If Fu hadn't learned his lesson in the last six hundred years, he wasn't going to learn it now.

Later that day (it was already past midnight, so it's still technically the same day) he was walking to school with Trixie and Spud, but his mind was somewhere else. Still on the roof, with that figure he thought he saw. It didn't make sense. It's been two weeks already, why should he start seeing things now? He became vaguely aware that he wasn't by his friends anymore. Turning around, he found a very angry Trixie standing a few feet back with her arms across her chest.

"Are you even listenin' to me?"

"Yeah, Kyle Wilkins." Jake said hopefully. It was a shot in the dark, but he had a pretty good chance of getting it right. She was almost ALWAYS talking about Kyle Wilkins. Not this time though, as she just stared daggers at him.

"I was talking about the cafeteria food."

"Oh" He said, grinning sheepishly. "I was ... close? Kyle Wilkins is yummy right?" He added, recalling some of their previous conversations. Trixie shook her head in a "see what I have to put up with?" kind of way before catching up to him.

"Sorry," he said after a while, "I was just thinking of something that happened on patrol yesterday."

"Were there any mermaids?" Spud piped up almost immediately. Jake grinned. The world could come crashing down around them and Spud would still be thinking about mermaids.

"No, no mermaids. Sorry."

"Oh," said Spud, a little disheartened. It wasn't as interesting anymore, but it must've been important to rattle Jake. Maybe something mermaid related? "So, what's up then?"

Jake sighed. He wasn't so sure if it was a good idea to tell them. Trixie would get all worried again, and Spud... he was just Spud. And besides, that was just one time. It's not like it's going to happen again. A little reassured, he just started to wave the question away before stopping dead in his tracks. There she was again. This time without the Huntsclan uniform, just good old Rose. She looked straight at him before turning a corner and disappearing behind a convenience store. Dropping his skateboard, he sprinted to her using the streetlight as support to turn, but the alley was empty. Instead, he raced into the convenience store, yelling at the cashier if he just saw a blond girl walk by his store. The man stared at him like he'd gone bunkers. The convenience store was right next to school. He saw hundreds of blond girls a day. Exasperated, Jake turned around, just in time to see his friends run into the store. Trixie looked at him much the same way the cashier was just a minute ago.

"You all right, Jakey?"

"Yeah man," Spud panted, "You look like you've seen a ghost."

Jake just stared at them.

"Uh... I think I just did."


	2. Chapter 2

**"This free will business is a bit terrifying anyway. It's almost pleasanter to obey, and make the most of it." - Ugo Betti  
**

"That is IT!" Screamed Jake as he sprinted into yet another empty alley. Seeing Rose had become a normal occurrence in the last few days. For him. Somehow, she only came out when the others were distracted, or so he told himself. There was also an off chance that they couldn't see her, whether because of magic or because she wasn't there to begin with. Either way, he was getting seriously pissed off. To see Rose but not be able to talk to her was the worst kind of torture he could imagine. Not anymore. Next time, he was coming prepared. But first, there were some preparations to be made.

"So, are you guys ready?" He asked his two best friends the next morning. They nodded reluctantly, still not happy with the idea. Or the goal for that matter. Trixie tried one last time to talk him out of it, but Jake just shook her off.

"It's out of my hands, anyway," he said, with a wicked grin. Maybe five minutes later, the three friends were on their way to school, talking about something. Or, more specifically, Trixie was talking about something, the other two just pretended to listen. A few buildings away, in the window of an abandoned apartment building stood Rose. She just stood there, face blank, looking at the three friends, waiting for Jake to notice her. Jake would be the first to notice her. She didn't know why, she didn't consider why, she didn't care why. It wasn't her job to question things, simply obey. Here they came. Jake was taking longer than usual to notice her. She didn't find that suspicious, as for that she'd need to give the situation a little thought. She wasn't made to think.

"Boo." Focused on the boy, she'd failed to notice the shadowy figure creep in from another window. If she was surprised, she didn't show it, simple kicking the figure in the chest. Caught off guard, Jake doubled over, only to receive another kick in the snout that sent him sprawling. Instinctively, he raised a hand to protect his face, screaming,

"It's me, Rose! It's Jake!"

Rose didn't even pause.

"I know who you are," she said, her tone flat, before throwing her staff like a spear. Eyes wide, Jake barely managed to dodge it, using his tail to try and swipe her legs from under her. It worked, only instead of hitting the floor, she used the momentum to go into a handstand, before pushing off and out the window. By the time Jake reached it, she was nowhere to be seen. Cursing, he turned back to his human form and went down the stairs where Spud, Trixie and his doppelganger were waiting.

"So, " asked Spud, wide eyed, "how'd it go?"

"Yeah, " added Trixie, fearing that he'd point to some empty space, "where's Rose?" Jake just shook his head. Something wasn't right. He'd imagined the reunion would be happy, or sad, or maybe something in between, but certainly not violent. And the way she behaved. The way she talked. That wasn't the Rose he knew. Was that even Rose at all? The tattoo seemed to suggest so, but he wasn't so sure anymore.

* * *

The girl moved quickly, jumping from roof to roof without pause. It only took her a few minutes to reach her destination, a tailor's at the outskirts of the city. It was abandoned, with nothing to deviate it from any other shop, except maybe for the stylized "H " hidden in the logo. The inside of the building looked no different than the outside, musty, dark, with a few pieces of torn cloth scattered around the floor. There was also a heavy wooden desk near one of the corners and a cheap chandelier hanging from the roof. A few mannequins and a closet in the back completed the picture. The owners had obviously tried to give the shop a Victorian feel, with some degree of success, although the broken DVD player on the desk seemed just a tad bit out of place. Undeterred, the girl walked up to the closet and stepped inside, closing the door behind her. After pushing her way through some moth eaten clothes, she arrived at another door, this one much cleaner with another mulberry "H " drawn on the handle. Just beyond was a set of stairs, leading down to a lair formerly belonging to the Huntsclan. It was filled with hardware: computers, weapons, a fey traps. There were also a set of training dummies, mostly in dragon shape although there were a few trolls. Sitting in the back with a book across her lap was a shapely woman in her thirties. She had jet black hair and a mulberry shirt to match the large Huntsclan symbols everywhere. On her legs were a pair of tight jeans, with high, black heels to complete the image. She closed the book as Huntsgirl entered the room.

"Another success I presume?"

"No, master. The boy was able to sneak up on me." She didn't know how, nor did she give it any thought. It simply happened and that's how she'd report it. The woman frowned, lifting a delicate finger to her chin.

"Hm... Well it was bound to happen eventually, though I wish we had a little more time. Not matter," she added cheerfully, standing up and putting the book back on the chair, "we are moving into the second stage of the plan. Are you ready Huntsgirl?" The girl didn't move. She wasn't given an order and as such did not need to undertake any action. The woman grinned in delight. "Well, of course you are! That's the glory of puppets: loyal, respectful and so, one hundred percent, obedient."

Huntsgirl still didn't move. The woman dropped the grin, replacing it with a slightly disgusted frown.

"Although, to be honest, you do get a bid dull at times. You can leave now." She added, waving her hand in dismissal, "We'll give him a few days to stew before making our next move." The girl turned around and left the building. She had no purpose in mind, no will, no desires, simply an order.


	3. Chapter 3

As a teenager, Jake had a whole list of things he hated. School is one. Brad is another, not to mention the Dark Dragon and all the other enemies he made over the last year, but of the non deadly ones, there were two that topped the chart. The first was mornings. He did not function well in the morning. According to his grandfather, dragons were originally nocturnal so the same could be said for a lot of dragons, but Jake hated it especially. The other was heat, which is a little ironic considering that he's a fire-breathing dragon, but he could not stand it. if given a choice between living in Alaska or anywhere along the equator, he'd pick Alaska on any day of the week. It just seemed so much more sensible to him. In cold weather, he could just put on an extra coat and feel at least somewhat comfortable, but nothing could be done for heat, short of shedding his skin. That was certainly out of the question, especially remembering the last time. He had a study date with Rose and then the zits and the ... But, I digress. Just let it suffice to say that it was a hot morning, and it didn't show signs of getting any cooler. Normally, he'd already be in school, or in the nearest convenience store if school wasn't in the books for that day, but on this particular morning he was standing on the corner of 5th and Samson, waiting for Trixie. Spud showed up almost thirty minutes ago, but Trix was nowhere to be found. First there was the slight irritation stage where the two just stood and complained. Well, Jake did most of the complaining; Spud didn't really mind the heat. Then, they slipped into the murderous daydream stage, during which they both described in great detail, the torture and eventual death that awaited Trixie if she didn't show her face in the next five minutes. Then there was the slightly worried stage, and Spud even wondered if she was kidnapped. They stared at each other for a moment before laughing out loud. Trixie would never let herself be kidnapped. She'd fought goblins, trolls and even Chiang with them. No puny criminal was getting the better of her. It would take something big. Something really ugly and nasty to kidnap Trix.

Spud saw her first. He was leaning against the streetlight pole observing his hat melt when he saw Rose, no Huntsgirl walking to them, something in her hand. He just stared. She kept walking, he kept staring. To be honest, he hadn't really believed Jake before. That is to say, he believed him, but he didn't _believe_ him. Since he wasn't there and didn't experience it himself, it seemed so distant to him almost like a bad dream now, but here she was. It obviously didn't have the same effect on him as it did on Jake, but to see a person who died in front of you walking down the street would be strange to any man. Even a man already as strange as Spud. He looked around frantically, hoping against hope to see Jake, who'd gone looking for Trixie not two minutes earlier. But no, he was gone. She'd obviously waited for him to leave before approaching Spud and that didn't bode well for either of them. He did grab a fallen that was lying on the sidewalk before looking at her defiantly.

"You'll have to go through me if you want to get to Jake!" He shouted, his voice cracking a little. She didn't even pause. Not until she was within easy hearing distance and she did not look amused, much less scared. Nor did she show any other emotion, Spud noted absentmindedly. She looked completely apathetic. When she spoke, her tone was flat. Not low. Not soft, but merely ... emotionless.

"I did not come here to speak with Jake." Those were her orders. Meet the boy, not the beast. "I came to see you. Tell the dragon to meet me on the roof of the Pantheon building midnight today. Alone. And just so he doesn't get cold feet, take this." Spud barely had time to catch the box as it headed toward his stomach. He had to drop the stick in the process, but it wasn't a major loss. Rose had skills on par with Jake's dragon powers and Spud was all too aware of his abilities in the fighting department. By the time he looked up, the girl was already walking across the street, oblivious to the traffic around her.

"That was perfect my dear." Everything, every scripted line and gesture was delivered perfectly. She could be an actress but for her lack of emotion. That was the problem with her. With her kind. They weren't made to show emotion and that made things a little complicated. _No worries, _thought the woman with a little smile playing on her lips, stroking the girl's hair, _your master knew what she is doing. She has been doing this for almost half a millennium after all_. Every single detail of the meeting was chosen with the sole purpose of throwing the dragon out of balance. The place. The time. Even the day. It was exactly one moon cycle since the Homecoming dance. Humans. They were _sooooo_ sentimental, so ... _predictable_. It made her life far too easy. Maybe that's why she went after the dragon this time? It could be it. After 500 years of easy meat, maybe she craved the challenge. That was rather strange in itself. She'd never considered herself the "type," but it happens to the best of us. And either way, it was too late to pull out now. As much as she'd enjoy simply disappearing and leaving the boy with hundreds of unanswered questions, there was far too much time and resources invested into this project already. It had to yield results or she'd end up back in some hole for another ten years. The last time was just horrid. No air conditioning, no makeup, no _Spa. _Ugh... She shuddered just thinking about it. No, not this time. All the aces were in her hand and there was nothing as easy as leading a fourteen year old, love stricken boy by the nose. Dragon or no, he wouldn't survive the night.

Jake was almost at Trixie's house when he heard the phone ring. He immediately knew who it was since instead of the usual music it was series of "Tallyho!" in Spuds voice. Flicking it open, he took it to his ear.

"Yo, Spud, I am on my way to Tri-" Jake visibly winced as he was interrupted by frantic yelling and hyperventilation on the other end. "Ok, Spud. Spud. SPUD!" That got him the break he needed. "Ok, now just relax and tell me what happened. Who came to you. What kind of witch? Wait, what?" He screamed, even louder this time. "Rose? Rose was there? Again?" He had used every trick in the book and even some shadier help trying to find Rose after the fight, but no luck and frankly, he was starting to give up on ever seeing her again, but here she was. In the flesh. Talking to Spud of all people.

It took Jake a good five minutes to realize that Spud was still talking.

"Yeah, sorry. So, what did she leave you? A box. What was in it? What? I can't hear you." The signal was deteriorating. All he managed to catch was something about a blue overcoat with and a cartoon panda, which didn't make any sense whatsoever. Where did the panda come from? It's not like she could carry a five hundred pound panda in a box around New York City. And how did the overcoat fit into this? Unless the panda was wearing the overcoat? His heart skipped a beat. There was no panda wearing an overcoat, the panda was _drawn_ on to the overcoat. Ad he only knew one person who had a blue overcoat with a panda on it. In fact, he was heading away from her house right now...


End file.
